Were You Assigned A Class You Have No Background or Preparation to Teach? by Jim Martin CLEARING Associate Editor ne year, I worked with a middle-school mathematics teacher who decided to engage his class in some work on a wetland and lake bordering a large river. He did this partly as a diversion from […]

Middle School Students Use Historic Snowpack Data to Gain Inquiry, Graphing and Analysis Experience by Joe Cameron Beaverton Middle School teacher What do you get when you mix researchers, teachers, authentic science opportunities and a group of GREAT people? You get three summers of intense work, reinvigorated teachers, new ideas for the classroom and […]

by Jim Martin CLEARING Associate Editor e left the teacher we have been following as she was planning a project she and her class will do on a creek at the edge of the school property. What she is doing, as well as her plans, appear to approach what the National Board for Professional Teaching […]

by Kevin Beals & Craig Strang magine a residential outdoor science program where instructors—all of them—routinely combine their passion for the natural world with a deep understanding of research-based teaching approaches that are based on all we know about how people learn. BEETLES (Better Environmental Education, Teaching, Learning, Expertise & Sharing), funded by the S.D. […]

by Jim Martin CLEARING Associate Editor teacher has made a commitment to design and execute a unit which explores the curriculum embedded in a small creek at the edge of her schoolyard. She didn’t just decide, then go; instead, she visited the creek, became familiar with its parts, then drew on some information she had […]

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Daily EE Activity Idea

Ecological Word Problems

Mathematics—Grades 9-12

Use statistical facts as a basis for writing and solving ecological math word problems. For example, each person uses approximately 60 pounds of plastic packaging each year. How much does the entire class of students use in a year, month, week or day? How much plastic does your family use in a year? If your family reduces their use by half, how much plastic packaging will be saved? How will this affect Earth? Encourage students to perform the math and discuss the environmental solution in writing. Pupils may exchange and solve each other's math word problems. Literature will inspire creative ideas.